Sunday 4 February - Marche-en-Famenne
Ladies and gentlemen, I won't be too long since we wanted an extremely dynamic congress. And besides, Victor has all the answers, so soon you'll be able to elect Victor in my place, he'll answer you perfectly!
More seriously, I just wanted to come back to something Willy Borsus mentioned: the choice of Marche-en-Famenne. I don't think many political parties choose the province of Luxembourg to launch their election campaign.
Often, Namur or Brussels is chosen for its centrality, since they are capitals. If we chose the province of Luxembourg, it's for a very simple reason. This choice was made before the farmers' movement began; it's because the Mouvement Réformateur is a party with both feet on the ground. It's a party for which rural life is extremely important. At the Mouvement Réformateur, agriculture has always been central to our concerns, and not only when a few tractors are out on the streets.
So the choice of Marche-en-Famenne was no accident. It's a signal that in our country we must give a central role to our cities, but that all our fellow citizens have a right to public services. That there can be no question of medical deserts, no question of disruptions in telephone or any other services. It's simply a reminder that every citizen who pays the same tax, whether they live in Arlon, Marche, Brussels, Hasselt, Mons, Jurbise or anywhere else, should have access to the same services.
Launching the campaign in Marche is about showing our attachment to rural areas, to farmers and to all our citizens!
In our programme, when you read it, there's a one-page preamble. This preamble explains just how much tomorrow is today. You might say: “Tomorrow is today, it sounds like an advertising slogan”, but it's simply the reality of our times.
Change has always existed throughout history. But changes this rapid, challenges this significant, are almost unprecedented. We of course have, first and foremost, the climate challenge.
It's by investing today in renewable energy, in nuclear power, in CO2 capture, in hydrogen, in our capacity to deploy new industrial processes, that we will save the climate tomorrow. It's not by making people feel guilty, telling their children that tomorrow they will live worse than they do. It's not by pursuing farmers as if they were polluters, or every fellow citizen the moment they use their car or fly. It's by trusting in progress, in the future, in technology. The 3 young people who joined me on stage - there are thousands like them ready to do useful work for our society.
This is true for climate, but also for security. It's by investing today in more efficient justice, by strengthening police numbers, by toughening sanctions and above all by ensuring that anyone who commits an offence quickly appears before a magistrate, that we will guarantee our ability to live together tomorrow.
It's not, as left-wing politicians have too often done, by letting a situation rot that a result is achieved. As politicians, we shouldn't wait for catastrophe to deploy master plans, to deploy emergency measures. Through our cautious nature, through our ability to foresee, we should ensure society doesn't find itself on the edge of the abyss before we act.
This is true for security, but above all it's true for work and taxation.
Today our country, as we have demonstrated, is the most heavily taxed in the world. We also have one of the lowest employment rates. What are we waiting for? Are we waiting for bankruptcy? Do we keep spending money we don't have, like others do? Do we keep telling ourselves we've always done it this way? Are we waiting to hit the wall? Or do we have the courage to redirect things, to tackle the real problems, to tell the women and men who don't work today that we are not their enemies. On the contrary, we are the only ones reaching out to them. We are the only ones who believe they must be supported with effective training, that they must not be left indefinitely in unemployment, which destroys their health, undermines their morale, impoverishes neighbourhoods, and drives up our social spending compared to others - that we do not see in each individual a voter to be flattered.
We, the liberals, see an opportunity in every individual. We see a wealth, a chance for our society, in every individual. But for that, we all need to move forward together!
If this is true for security, employment, taxation and climate, it is especially true for what Pierre-Yves Jeholet named as the top priority: education. Education is not a matter where you can snap your fingers and expect our children to be better off the next morning.
Education is a long-term priority for the next 20 to 30 years. I know that in politics people often say we shouldn't talk too long-term because people want results today. I tell you, we will have results today, but we will also work for tomorrow. I don't want to tell you nonsense. That is why our election manifesto is not a programme for one term, but for two terms. There are immediate measures, such as the time-limiting of unemployment benefits, which will come into force. There are others that will take more time, such as improving the quality of our education, but this improvement can only happen with a major change of mindset applicable to all our policies. It's a change of mindset, a change of attitude, the change that consists of saying that the sense of work must be at the heart of our society. That respect must once again become the norm. That sanction is not our pleasure, but is sometimes necessary. As the farmers said at the start of the congress, it's a society that stops walking on its head.
With the Mouvement Réformateur, we will set things straight again!
You may have read in the press this weekend about a friend of ours, Thierry B, secretary general of the FGTB. He could have come, we would have let him speak too, though I'm not sure the applause would have been the same. But there's room for everyone in the liberal party. And I say this without joking, since in developing our programme we also invited trade unions, because we must listen to everyone, because our strength comes from the fact that our political movement has no dogma, is not closed, is a home for all. For all those who embrace a democratic project. But Thierry sometimes makes mistakes. He advises us on a PS-Ecolo-PTB coalition.
You know that in Belgium coalitions are often given names. There was the Swedish coalition, there was the Vivaldi. I'll tell you one thing: I don't want the coalition of unemployment. I don't want the coalition of failure. I don't want the coalition of the worst.
This coalition would be one of political parties that have for too long become the rentiers of precarity, the shareholders of social hardship. Today, I don't want to counter them with criticism alone. I would rather counter them with our optimism, our ability to change society always with balance. Because, you know it, in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, when you disagree with the left-wing mega-bloc, you're automatically discredited. But if you look, our proposals are always common sense, measured, balanced. Yes, we want to save the climate. But we don't want Europe to lose the strategic autonomy Sophie Wilmès spoke of. We don't want our farmers to die out, forcing us to import food from abroad. We don't want our industries to disappear, risking more precarity, more foreign dependency. Just think, today there isn't a single microprocessor that doesn't come from Asia. All the devices we use daily are completely dependent on foreign countries. It's frightening when you think about it.
We must regain control. To regain control, we must make intelligent decisions. We must not coerce, we must incentivise. We must not destroy and retreat. On the contrary, we must move forward and innovate. We must do this for climate, but also for security. Yes, on security we want more firmness. But we also want a justice system where citizens' rights are respected. And the first right is that of swift justice, not waiting years for a decision. It's also a justice that sanctions, because we know that sometimes sanctions are needed. It's also a justice capable of offering alternatives to those who, for example, suffer from mental illness or addiction. Always, whether in justice or climate, we will be balanced. We will be equally so in the field of work. Of course we will limit unemployment benefits, but we will never leave an individual behind. The CPAS will also, for people excluded from unemployment benefits, thanks to a transfer of resources, become a place of activation, a place offering training, where people are supported in reintegrating, in rediscovering the value of effort, in rediscovering what is so lacking in so many regions of Wallonia and Brussels: hope.
That magnificent word that makes us want to get up in the morning, that desire for our children to live better than we do. That desire for excellent education. So yes, we will bring back marks. Yes, there will be punishments. Yes, there will be homework. But we're not doing this for the sake of punishment, we're doing it to teach the value of effort. We're doing it to assess a child's real level, so they don't sink further into failure. Do you realise that today one in two children under 15 has already repeated a year in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation?
These policies that destroy individuals are also policies that waste public funds. 400,000,000 euros, that's the cost of grade repetition in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. Why? Because some refuse to see that by third grade of primary school, every child should be able to read, write and count, and that anyone who can't must be given individual support.
Today more than ever, the Mouvement Réformateur wants to return to basic learning.
Today more than ever, we are making a commitment for the future. We are making a commitment for our children.
For these elections, we will need all of you: those who came today, those who didn't have the chance to come, your friends, your family, all your loved ones.
I want to tell you one thing: we know it won't be easy. We will be alone. The other political parties have decided that we are the enemy. If there's a problem on this planet, it's because of us. I think they almost hold us responsible for the crusades too, it's becoming so ridiculous. But you are not alone, we are not walking alone. Our fellow citizens are waiting for our project. They're waiting for change. They're waiting for clean energy. They want to be rewarded more for working than for not working. They want a good school for their children. They want effective healthcare. They don't want to be promised failure. Our fellow citizens are smart. They know there's no more money to hand out, but that there's enormous waste. We will need more prevention in healthcare, a better allocation of resources in public policy, and an evaluation of these policies, as Adrien Dolimont pointed out.
Don't be afraid! It might be a bit intimidating sometimes on TV sets. They will certainly want to impress us. They will put pressure on us.
It won't be easy, but whenever you doubt, do me a favour: go and talk to people, because people aren't afraid of change, they're waiting for it. Today, there is a real yearning for the liberal project. Because our project is not only fair, not only beautiful, not only full of hope, it is today essential. So today, more than ever, be proud to be liberals, and don't forget: with the MR, the future is bright!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwZmux_f3jQ